Machine for operating on shoes



June 24, 1947'. c. w. BAKER 1 MACHINE FOR OPERATING ON SHOES Filed April 23, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Invenfor.

Corwin WBa/fef- June 24, 1947. c w, BAKER 2,422,711

MACHINE FOR OPERATING ON SHOES Fi led April 23, 194 s Shets-Sheet 2 June 24, 1947; BAKER 2,422,711

MACHINE FOR OPERATING ON SHOES Filed April 23, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 CorwinM/Bdker Patented June 24, 1947 Corwin W. Baker, Stoneham, Mass, assignor to' United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J a corporation of NewJe'rsey Application April 23, 1946', Serial No. 664,297

9 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for operating uponshoes and is hereinillustrated as e'mbodied in' a machine of the type disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,323,942, granted July 13, 1943, upon an application filedin' the name of Homer F. Smith, which discloses mechanism particularly adapted for pounding the inseam materials and for flattening the welts of lasted shoes;

Heretofore, in the manufacture of welt shoes, after the welt has been attaohedto' theupper andin'sole, of a lasted'shoe and the inseam materialstrimmed, it has been customary to pound down the inseam materials and to pound down or stretch out-the welt to form a substantially flat shoe bottom to which the outer'sole can be attached. This operation-"is usually performed by means of rolls orhammers which operate upon the inseam'materials to reduce them to a common level and to beat or otherwisefiatten the welt to conform it to the plane of the; shoe bottom. Duringthis'operation it is common practice to slash the-Welt around the sharply curved toe'portion of the shoe so that the welt'can be'made to lie flat, Ari-object ofthe present invention is to providein a machine of thetype' referred to im' proved welt slashing mechanism which is readily adaptable to operation upon welts of' varying thicknesses toproduce substantially uniform results. 1 1

To. this end, and as illustrated, there is provided' a work support having a rotatable roll adapted to enter the welt crease of a'shoe bein operated upon, a feed wheel adjacent to the roll for engaging the welt of the shoeto advance the shoepast the roll, and a plurality of rotatable hammers arranged toyengagethe inseam materials, as the shoe is advanced, to beat them down to a predetermined level, together with welt slashing mechanism mounted upon the work'support and arranged for movement therewith relatively to the feed wheel, the slashing mechanism normally being inoperative but arranged for operation under manual control. By mounting the slashing mechanism for movement with the work These and otherfeatures of the invention are disclosed in the following specification and-in the accompanying drawings and are pointed out'in the claims.

In the drawings, 7

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a seam beatin and welt flattening machineoonstructed inaccordance with'one embodiment" of myiinvention;

Fig; 2 is a view inside elevation of the machine shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is'aside view; partly in section, illustrat ing a shoe in operative position in the machine;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of ashoe after it has been operated, upon by the machine;

support, the slashing knife can be'brought into I Fig. 5 is a front viewof the upper portion of the machine illustrating the knife actuating mechanism with the partsin an operative position;

Fig. 6 is a front View of a portion of the machine illustrating details of the knife, actuating mechanism with" the knife in operative position: and

Fig, 7 Ba view in side elevation, partly'in' section, illustratingdetails of the work support and associated mechanism;

The machine: is especially adapted 'to operate upon lasted shoes-, sueh as-a shoe l-ll (Fig;v 3) having a ribbed insole l2 and a welt I4 stitched to the insole rib through materials of an upper l6, the welt, upper materials and rib having been rimmed alongthe inseam to produce'asurface i8;

The machine is for the. purpose of beating down the inseam materials to reduce their height to a common level and to stretch out the Welt l4 so that it liessubstantially in the plane of the reduced inseam.

The mechanism for accomplishing this comprises a work support 20- (Figs 1 and 3), carried by the frame 22 of the machine, a feed wheel 24 mounted for rotation about a fixed axis adjacent to the support for engagingthe welt M of the shoe to advance it across the upper surface of the support, beating hammers 26 rotatably mounted adjacentto the work support for engaging the inseam materials to beat them, and a slashing knife 28 mounted for'movement along the work support in they direction of feed for slashing the welt around the toe as shown at 3!! (Fig. 4), thus to facilitate the stretching of the welt around the sharply curved toe portion of the shoe.

The work support 20 comprises a bar carrying a roll 32 mounted upon a verticalstud fl' on the bar, the upper portion of the roll being shaped to enter the welt crease of the-shoe and the upper surface 36 of the roll being arranged for supporting the welt. Preferably, the surface 35 is beveled downwardly. at an. angle of about 5 to the horizontal so that the welt will be supported principally upon the upper surface of the roll away from the edge portion adjacent to the welt crease, thus to relieve the pressure of the feed wheel upon the stitches so that the threads will not be pulled.

The work support is positioned between two vertically extending guides 38 (Figs. 1 and 5) carried by the frame and has a depending boss 40 (Fig. 7) slidably mounted heightwise of the frame in a sleeve 42, the boss terminating in a depending rod 44. Upon the lower end of the ro i located a bushing 46 screw-threaded into the sleeve, and there is a spring 48 between the upper end of the bushing and the boss 40 which normally operates to force the work support upwardly toward the feed wheel 24. The pressure of the spring is adjusted by rotating the bushing in the sleeve. Upward movement of the work support is limited by a nut 50 screw-threaded on the lower end of the rod 44 and engaging the lower end of the bushing 46. Vertical adjustment of the work support heightwise of the feed wheel is readily accomplished by rotating the nut which provides for adjustment of the spacing of the work support relatively to the feed wheel for welts of different thicknesses, for example, from to A of an inch.

The feed wheel 24 is substantially cylindrical in shape and is provided withfiutes 52 (Fig. 1) extending axially of the roll for gripping the welt to feed it substantially at right angles to the axis of the roll. It is found that the flutes extending in this manner facilitate the feed of the welt without preventing its movement outwardly of the shoe in stretching, with th result that there is little or no tendency for the feed wheel to crimp the welt durin the feeding movement.

The hammers 26, of which preferably there are four as shown in'Figs. 1 and 5, are mounted radially in a spider 54 in grooves 56, being locked in position in the spider by bolts 58. Each of the hammers is provided with a curved work engaging portion 60 which is relieved, as indicated at 62, in advance of the direction of rotation of the hammers, which is clockwise in Fig. 1. A guard 6! (Figs. 3 and 7) in the form of a circular plate is secured to the outer face of the spider by screws 63. Preferably the guard is formed of transparent plastic material to permit view of the work between the adjacent hammers.

The feed wheel 24 and the hammers 26 are driven by means of an electric motor 64 (Figs. 1, 2 and 5) mounted upon the upper portion of the frame 22. The feed wheel is driven from the motor through a pulley 66, a belt 68, reducing gear 10 (Fig. 2), and a belt I2 passing over a pulley I4 which drives a gear 16 in mesh with a second gear 18 carried by the shaft 8|] to which the feed wheel is connected. The spider 54 carrying the hammers is mounted on a shaft 8I arranged to be driven by a pulley 82 on the shaft through a belt 84 from a pulley 86 on the motor shaft. Preferably, the hammers are rotated at about 2200 revolutions per minute and the feed wheel is driven at about 96 revolutions per minute, the relative sizes of theparts being such that the speed of the hammers across the face of the work is greater than the speed of feed of the work across the work support. In this way several blowsof the hammers are delivered along each successive portion of the inseam materials as the shoe is advanced across the face of the work support. e

The slashing knife 28 is mounted in a bracket- 88 (Figs. 1, 5 and 6) carried at the lower end of a knife arm 96 which is pivoted at 92, upon a, U- shaped bracket 64 secured by bolts 96 to the work support 20. The knife is arranged for movement from inoperative position to a position closely adjacent to the surface 36 of the work support and below the feed wheel. Since the work support and support for the knife arm are secured together, movement of the work support in accommodating itself to different thicknesses of welt will not change the relative position of the knife in its slashing movement and the surface 36 of th roll 32, with the result that the knife will always penetrate the work to the same distance from the grain side of the welt positioned upon the surface of the roll. The knife arm is normally held in inoperative position against a stop 98 on the bracket 94 by the force exerted by a spring I00 extending from a portion of the frame to a pin I62 on the knife arm.

The knife arm carries a stud I64 which extends through an elongated opening I06 in a knife actuating arm I08 mounted upon an eccentric III] on .a. shaft II2. Movement of the knife arm relatively to the arm I08 is accomplished by meansof a toggle comprising a link I I4 pivoted upon one end of the arm I08 and a link I I6 pivoted upon the stud I54, the remainingends of the links being pivoted at H! (Figs. 5 and 6) to a movable control member H8. The upper end of the control member I I8 has an elongated slot I20 which is positioned over a pin I22 on an arm I24 of a bell-crank lever I26 mounted in brackets: I28 on the frame of the machine. The other arm I30 of the bell-crank lever is pivotally connected at I32 to the upper end of a treadle rod I34, the lower end of the rod being secured to an arm I36 of a foot treadle I38 pivoted at I46 on the frame. A spring I42 connected between a bracket I44 on the frame and a pin I 46 on the treadle rod I34 normally tends to force the rod upwardly in a direction to turn the bell-crank I26 in a clockwise direction (Fig. 5) with the result that the arm I24 and control member II8 are urged upwardly to hold the toggle links H4, H6 in broken position, as shown in Fig. 5, with the knife arm 90 in position against the stop 98. Upward movement of the arm I24 is limited by a stop I48 mounted upon a stationary bracket I56. Depression of the treadle results in downward movement of the control member I I8 and straightening of the toggle links H4, H6, and holding the stud I64 in positionat one end of the slot IUBas shown in Fig. 6, with the result that the knife arm 90 is operatively connected for oscillatory movement with th arm I58. The lowermost position of the arm I24 is determined by a stop I52 also carried by the bracket I50. Both the upper and lower stops are manually adjustable and arranged to be secured in fixed positions by means of screw bolts I54 operating in elongated slots I56 in the stops.

The arm I68 for actuating the knife arm 90 is oscillated by means of the eccentric IIll on the shaft I I2, the shaft being rotated by means of a pulley I58 driven by a belt I60 on a pulley I62 on th motor shaft I64.

In the operation of the machine, a shoe such as the shoe I6 (Fig. 3) is presented to the work support 20 with the roll 32 extending into the welt crease of the shoe and the welt I4 resting grain side down upon the upper face of the roll 32, the work support 20 being yieldable downward against the force of the spring 48 to permit insertion of the welt between the roll and the feed wheel 24. As the feed wheel rotates, the shoe is advanced past the work support, the feed wheel serving to stretch out the welt to flatten it and the hammers '26 operating to beat down the inseam materials. When the shoe has advanced so that the toe portion thereof is located upon the work support, the operator depresses the treadle I38 which effects a straightening of the toggle H4, H6 holding the knife arm 90- temporarily at the left end of the slot 16 of the arm I08, Fig. 7, with the result that the arm causes movements of the knife about the pivot. 92 to slash the welt as indicated by reference characters 30 in Fig. 4. Preferably, the timing of rotation of the shaft I I2 relatively to the feed wheel speed is such that the knife will effect three slashes per inch of feed, provided, of course, the treadle I38 is held depressed. When the treadle is released, the toggle is broken by raising the inner ends of the links H4, H6 and the spring I returns the knife arm 9|) into inoperative position against the stop 98.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A machine for operating on shoes comprising a feed wheel mounted for rotation about a fixed axis, a support for the welt of a shoe to be operated upon, means for yieldably mounting the work support for movement toward and away from the feed wheel, a welt slashing knife, means for pivotally mounting the knife upon the work support, and manually controlled means for effecting operation of the knife upon the welt.

2. A maoh'inejor operating upon shoes comprising a support for the welt of a shoe to be operated upon, a tool for operating upon the welt of the shoe, means for yieldably mounting the support for movement relatively to the tool, a slashing knife pivotally mounted upon the support, a power operated knife actuating member, and manually controlled means for operatively connecting the knife to the actuating member to effect an operation of the knife upon the welt.

3. A machine for operating upon shoes comprising a support for the welt of a shoe to be operated upon, means for advancing the welt across the support, means for yieldably mounting the sup-port for movement toward and away from the feeding means, a welt slashing knife, means for pivotally mounting the knife upon the support, and. manually controlled means for eifecting operation of the knife upon the welt.

4. A machine for operating upon shoes comprising a support for the welt of a, shoe to be operated upon, a feed wheel for advancing the welt across the support, means for yieldably mounting the support for movement toward and away from the feed wheel, a bracket movable with the support, a welt slashing knife mounted upon the bracket, and manually controlled means for effecting operation of the knife upon the welt.

5. A machine for operating upon shoes comprising a work support, a rotatable work engaging roll carried by the support, a feed wheel spaced from the roll, means for yieldably mounting the support for movement relatively to the feed wheel, a slashing knife pivotally mounted upon the support, a power oscillated knife actuating member, and manually controlled means for operatively connecting the knife to the actuating member to effect operation of the knife.

6. A machine for operating upon shoes comprising a feed wheel mounted for rotation about a fixed axis, a support for the welt of a shoe to be operated upon, means yieldably mounting the work support for movement toward and away from the feed wheel, a bracket carried by the work support, an arm pivotally mounted upon the bracket, a slashing knife carried by the arm, a knife actuating member, means for oscillating the actuating member, a toggle comprising two links connected respectively to the knife arm and the actuating member, and manually operable means for straightening the toggle thereby operatively to connect the knife arm to the actuating member.

'7. A machine for operating upon shoes comprising a feed wheel mounted for rotation about a fixed axis, a support for the welt of a shoe to be operated upon, means mounting the support for movement toward and away from the feed wheel, a bracket carried by the support, an arm pivotally mounted upon the bracket, a slashing knife carried by the arm, a stop upon the bracket, a spring normally operative to force the arm toward the stop, a knife actuating member, power operated means for oscillating the actuating member, a

I toggle comprising two links connected respectively to the knife arm and the actuating member, and manually operable means for straightening the toggle whereby the knife arm is operativel connected to the actuating member.

8. A machine for operating upon shoes. comprising a support for the welt of a shoe to be operated upon, means for advancing the welt across the support, means for yieldably mounting the support for movement toward and away from the feeding means, a welt slashing knife, means for pivotally mounting the knife upon the support, a stop on the support, a spring normally operative to force the knife into inoperative position determined by the stop, and manually controlled means for effecting operation of the knife .upon the welt.

9. A machine for operating upon shoes comprising a support for the welt of a shoe to be operated upon, means for advancing the welt across the support, means for yieldably mounting the support for movement toward and away from the feeding means, a welt slashing knife, means for pivotally mounting the knife upon the support, a stop on the support, 2, spring normally operative to force the knife into inoperative position determined by the stop, a power oscillated actuating member, toggle links connecting the knife and the actuating member, and manually controlled means for straightening the toggle to cause the actuating member to effect an operation of the knife.

CORWIN W. BAKER. 

